OTHER: Drawing With Chalk Feature Film Trailer

I caught this on saturday at the Phoenix Film Fest, I am not sure how many were there but the small theater was pretty much full and the audience seemed to enjoy the film. I chatted up many people in the line for other films and all of them had good things to say about DWC.

I personally really enjoyed it, I thought you guys did a fantastic job, It is really hard to believe this is the first film you ever made.

I also was glad I had a chance to meet you, I hope the rest of your festival run goes as well as this. And even though you mentioned your frustration with the distribution process I hope a fair deal comes along that is too your liking.
 
YaBoyTopher,

It was a pleasure meeting you and I'm glad you enjoyed DWC. We ended up getting a 4th screening for Winners Week with the Festival Choice Screening. Pretty good house too (wish I could have been there). Next stop: Buffalo Niagara Film Festival and then on to Newport Beach Film Festival!
 
Nice work Todd, well done for being your first big production.

Are you going to enter it into the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 2010)?

If so, I'll come to watch it for sure. If not, well, I'll find a copy or try to watch it another way.

I'm also in the process of doing my first feature (documentary) and I know how hard you must've worked on this and how much sacrifice you have to give in order to get things done.

Although I don't know you personally, please accept my regards when I say I'm proud of you and the work you did.

All the best,
Dale
 
dalethompson said:
Nice work Todd, well done for being your first big production.

Are you going to enter it into the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 2010)?

If so, I'll come to watch it for sure. If not, well, I'll find a copy or try to watch it another way.

I'm also in the process of doing my first feature (documentary) and I know how hard you must've worked on this and how much sacrifice you have to give in order to get things done.

Although I don't know you personally, please accept my regards when I say I'm proud of you and the work you did.

All the best,
Dale
Click to expand...

Thank you Dale!

I might enter it into Toronto (but truthfully I'd need to cross more than my fingers to get in). We have a 'final' round of submissions to see where it takes us, but we intend on having a DVD/CD release prior to Christmas.

Good luck with your project!!

Todd
 
Todd:

TIFF is hard to get into these days but I know your work would be good enough for it, believe it.

They've gone a lot more corporate in the last 10 years, hence, it's become the 2nd most important festival in the World (according to most film people). Didn't always used to be like that but along the way, they've tried to squeeze out smaller productions in favour of the bloated hollywood machine. Smaller films therefore have more trouble getting in to the festival which is sad because TIFF was always supposed to be the anti-Cannes and really promoted itself as a champion of getting out smaller films to mass audiences.

If you don't get into TIFF, it's not a reflection of your work, it's all film politics which TIFF really has to start to re-address again. People here in Toronto are kinda against TIFF getting any bigger now, it's gotten too big already and not in a good way.

You've given me some inspiration for my own doc as well because I know I can pull this off if I just work hard enough. I cashed in all my RRSP's (retirement funds), sold all my goalie hockey gear and took out a $5000 to complete it. So I know where you are coming from in terms of giving up something because you believe in what you are doing.

All the best and I do hope you get into TIFF too. Update this thread if you find out, OK?

-Dale
 
Hey Dale,

Well Toronto doesn't work for us since they require a Canadian premiere. We do have a bunch more festivals we are waiting on so we'll see.

btw, we are playing at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Tuesday (27th) at 3pm so if there are any LA folks who'd like to come and hang, stop down and check out the film!
 
Newport Beach was very good. We had a good turnout (especially for a 3pm Tuesday screening). Made great contacts (with interest from a distributor as well as a network; more to come... If it comes:) ).

Now we will be headed to the Hoboken International Film Festival in June (no screening date yet but I will post once I know). New website will be up shortly too.
 
Alright! Our Hoboken International Film Festival screening is on Sunday June 6th at 12:00 pm in Teaneck, NJ at the Cedar Lane Cinemas.

Also, just found out we have been accepted into the Long Island International Film Expo and our screening is on July 15th at 4:30 pm at Bellmore Movies in Bellmore NY; rough screening time but it sure would be fun to play hooky :)

More news to come soon (I think...)

Todd
 
On another strange note: DWC is playing at the PARK CITY MUSIC AND FILM FESTIVAL this coming Friday at 5pm. I had submitted the film but never received a notification of selection/rejection so I assumed we were rejected. Turns out (according to their website) that we did get accepted and is playing in collaboration with the Park City Film Series.

I guess if anyone is in Park City and can make it let me know how it was (mainly the festival, and of course, the film) ;)

Todd
 
It's amazing to me how little regard most festivals have for filmmakers...

I mean, couldn't they, like, you known have sent you an e-mail?

Geez...
 
ikander said:
It's amazing to me how little regard most festivals have for filmmakers...

I mean, couldn't they, like, you known have sent you an e-mail?

Geez...
Click to expand...

Well, we ended up winning a Jury's Choice Silver Medal of Excellence in impact of music in a feature film (unfortunately we weren't notified of the win either).

Also, just a friendly reminder that DWC is playing at the Hoboken International Film Festival this coming Sunday at 12 noon (Teaneck, NJ at the Cedar Lane Cinemas). If anyone is around the area we'd love for you to come and see the film.

Other news....

We've had one distributor pass on the film (not because they didn't like it, but because they are only interested in foreign films... that's what they told us). We have a MAJOR agency taking a look at the film for possible representation (but I'm being realistic here). We also have another distributor taking a look (a much larger company as to the one I mentioned earlier). We'll see what happens.

As far as the music in the film: we are having Jeff Peters (engineer for The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Brian Setzer) mix the songs and then on to mastering. We met with him in CA (during the Newport Beach Film Festival) and listened to a rough mix and WOW! Looking forward to the final mixes.

We are currently looking at a late fall release (both DVD and CD). Probably self distributed unless other forces come into play. All I know is that I have a ton of more work to do before that can happen....
 
DCP said:
Well, we ended up winning a Jury's Choice Silver Medal of Excellence in impact of music in a feature film (unfortunately we weren't notified of the win either).

Also, just a friendly reminder that DWC is playing at the Hoboken International Film Festival this coming Sunday at 12 noon (Teaneck, NJ at the Cedar Lane Cinemas). If anyone is around the area we'd love for you to come and see the film.

Other news....

We've had one distributor pass on the film (not because they didn't like it, but because they are only interested in foreign films... that's what they told us). We have a MAJOR agency taking a look at the film for possible representation (but I'm being realistic here). We also have another distributor taking a look (a much larger company as to the one I mentioned earlier). We'll see what happens.

As far as the music in the film: we are having Jeff Peters (engineer for The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Brian Setzer) mix the songs and then on to mastering. We met with him in CA (during the Newport Beach Film Festival) and listened to a rough mix and WOW! Looking forward to the final mixes.

We are currently looking at a late fall release (both DVD and CD). Probably self distributed unless other forces come into play. All I know is that I have a ton of more work to do before that can happen....
Click to expand...

Congratulations and good luck with the distribution avenues...we've got folks waiting to see ours but I've got to be realistic as well about it, so we're preparing Self-distribution options as well. We just locked picture last night but have tons of sound and music editing to do as well as the color correction.

-M
 
@DCP and Martin - Good Luck With Self Distribution, if that's the route you guys go. I know you can probably get direct distribution. Todd, you have like 100 Film Fests, that should help some in distribution. And Martin, I'm sure you'll get plenty of activity as well.

Stay Positive. I believe in you both.
 
Thanks again jls4!

The Hoboken International Film Festival needs a bit of work for the screening aspect of it (they need more direct interaction with the filmmakers and the presentation of the screenings). They did put on one of the best award ceremony to date (just wish more attention had been placed on the screenings). We ended up being nominated for best screenplay and best actor (me).

We've been accepted into another film festival in Washington DC (The World Music and Independent Film Festival). For this we've been nominated for Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Actor (me), Best Actress (Pooja Kumar), Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Springer), and Best Original Soundtrack. We screen sometime in late August.

We've been actively seeking out sales reps (but, again, we are being realistic). Very soon we will be starting a fund raiser (I know, I hate those words too) in order to finish the soundtrack (we are having Jeff Peters -The Beach Boys engineer- do our final mixes). I'll post more on this later. A nice thing about the fund raiser is we'll be setting aside a small portion to give to ALS (we have a member of our family who has this terrible disease) and we'll also offer items in return for pledges.

One distribution deal fell south due to them wanting to only acquire foreign films, but that's fine. We've also had a major agency point us into a good direction so we'll see what happens...

Todd
 
jls4 said:
@DCP and Martin - Good Luck With Self Distribution, if that's the route you guys go. I know you can probably get direct distribution. Todd, you have like 100 Film Fests, that should help some in distribution. And Martin, I'm sure you'll get plenty of activity as well.

Stay Positive. I believe in you both.
Click to expand...

Thanks jls4, I appreciate it.

-M
 
Hey All,
Another update:

DWC is playing at the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival in Illinois in late July. These guys actually contacted me and asked for a screener (they had heard of the film). We also received another email yesterday from a Florida film festival (same deal; they heard great things about the film and requested a screener). I guess that's how it happens....

Also, had great feedback from a developer at The Hallmark Channel (she really liked the film and is passing it on to an agency in NY; she's a really nice person and had many great things to say about the film -from the way it was shot (she thought it was film) to the acting and the story. Hopefully it may help out down the road. The only mark going against us is the lack of a name talent (she was honest about this and stated had this film came out several years ago that it could have been a huge hit; not saying that that won't happen, but we all know the market has changed).

We do have several reps looking at the film so we'll see.
 
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